Voronet Monastery in Moldavia
 

Voronet Monastery

General info

The Voronet Monastery is possibly the most famous monastery of Romania. It is known throughout the world for its exterior frescoes of bright and intense colours, and for the hundreds of well-preserved figures placed against the renowned azurite background. The church of Voronet that Stephen the Great built included the chancel, the naos with its tower, and the pronaos.

The monastery is located on a riverbank, at the end of the long and narrow village of the same name, near the town of Gura Humorului. The age of the monastic site is not known. A legend tells us that Stephen the Great (Stefan cel Mare), in a moment of crisis during a war against the Turks, came to Daniel the Hermit at his skete in Voronet and asked for advice. After he won the battle against the Turks, keeping his promise to the monk, the prince built a new church, dedicated to St. George, the bringer of victory in battle. This is the present church that was built on the site of an older wooden church, the scanty remains of which have not been dated. The renowned researcher George Bals wrote in the 1920's that the churches of this period, and in part also those built in the following century, were "Byzantine churches built with Gothic hands".The structure and the interior spatial solutions were linked to the Byzantine and south Slavic tradition.

The exterior, with its buttresses and door and window frames were related to Western European High Gothic. The influences spread from Transylvania and Poland with craftsmen who were invited especially to build churches.

Photos

  • Voronet Monastery
  • Voronet Monastery
  • Voronet Monastery
  • Voronet Monastery
  • Voronet Monastery
  • Voronet Monastery
  • Voronet Monastery
  • Voronet Monastery

Attractions

  • Corvins' Castle (Hunyadi Castle) Museum

    The Corvins' Castle impresses by the presence that dominates the city of Hunedoara. For those ones attracted by the Middle Age, the Corvins' Castle represents an unique monument in Romania and one of the most interesting in Europe.

  • Bran Castle Museum

    Bran Castle Museum is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia in Brasov County. This castle is known as the homestead of Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) and is the most visited attraction of Romania.

  • Peles Castle Museum

    Located in Sinaia (44 km from Brasov), Peles Castle is considered by many one of the most beautiful castles in all Europe. It was the final resting place for several Romanian monarchs including King Carol I, who died here in 1914.

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  • Brasov Citadel

    Brasov, known as Kronstadt in German or Brasso in Hungarian is one of the largest cities in Romania. It is located in the center of the country and surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains. The city provides a mix of wonderful mountain scenery in the nearby Poiana Brasov and medieval history with Germanic influences in the old town.

  • Harman Fortress

    The Harman fortress is located 8 km north-east of Brasov. It dates back to the 13th century when the Saxons built the original church in a Romanesque style which was restored in a Gothic style.

  • Prejmer Fortress

    Prejmer (German: Tartlau; Hungarian: Prazsmar) is a town in Brasov County, Romania. It is located 18 km northeast of Brasov. Prejmer Fortress (15th century) - is the best-preserved peasant fortress of Transylvania, included in the UNESCO patrimony.

  • Suceava Fortress

    Suceava is the capital city of the Suceava County, Bukovina, northeastern Romania. It is sittuated on a commercial high-way that linked the Baltic with the Black Sea. The town of Suceava gained its importance from the presence of the main royal palace which Petru I Musat built here at the end of the XlVth century. Close to the royal court and the citadel stood the Mirauti Church, the first Metropolitan Church of Moldavia, which once housed the relics of Saint John the New, one of Moldavia's patron saints.

  • Rasnov Citadel

    Rasnov Citadel (Rosenau in German), is located on a rocky hilltop in the Carpathian mountains, 200m above the town of Rasnov in Romania. It is 15 km southwest of Brasov and also about 15 km from Bran Castle. The fortress is on the Bran Pass, a trade route connecting Wallachia with Transylvania. The view from the top of the castle hill is spectacular.

  • Rupea Citadel

    Rupea Fortress, located on the Northwestern side of Brasov county, was built on a basalt rock. The first trace of the citadel is on a document where the writers referred to it as Koholom citadel meaning the rock eminence. It is said that on that particular rock once existed a Roman camp, during the time Dacia was conquered by Romans. Later on, the Saxons and Hungarians who settled on these lands rebuilt the camp.

  • Sighisoara Citadel

    The Sighisoara Citadel is the old historic center of the town of Sighisoara (Hungarian: Segesvar, German: Schaessburg), Romania, built in the 12th century by Saxon colonists. It is the last inhabited medieval citadel in Europe and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, for its 850 year old testimony to the history and culture of the Transylvanian Saxons.

  • Deva Fortress

    Deva (German: Diemrich, Hungarian: Deva) is a city situated on the left bank of the middle course of the Mures river. It is the capital of Hunedoara county in Romania and has around 80,000 inhabitants, including subordinated villages. In Ancient Times it was a Dacian fortress called Singidava.

  • Sibiu Citadel

    In 2007 Sibiu is the European Capital of Culture (together with Luxembourg). It is the most important cultural event that has ever happened in the city and a great number of tourists are expected, both domestic and foreign. The city of Sibiu and its surroundings are one of the most visited areas in Romania.

  • Fagaras Citadel

    Fagaras Fortress is the most impressive monument of the town, and the core around which the town was actually built. Ladislaw Kan started to built it in 1310 on the former place of a 12th century wooden fortress strengthened by earthen walled fortifications. The former fortress had been burned down by the Tartars in 1241. The fort was enlarged and rebuilt in the 15th-17th centuries in the Transylvanian Renaissance style and came to be known, alongside with Deva, as one of the strongest fortifications in Transylvania.

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Tours

  • One day tour (A1)

    Brasov Citadel
    Rasnov Citadel
    Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle)
    Peles Castle (Sinaia)

  • One day tour (A2)

    Brasov Citadel
    Rasnov Citadel
    Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle)
    Fagaras Citadel

  • One day tour (A3)

    Brasov Citadel
    Rupea Citadel
    Sighisoara Citadel

  • One day tour (A4)

    Brasov Citadel
    Harman Fortress
    Prejmer Fortress

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  • Dracula Tour (B1)

    Explore the Transylvanian lands in the search of Dracula's true story. During day 1 you will be visiting Rasnov Citadel and Bran Castle. In the evening Brasov old city will be presented to you. A special accommodation will be taken care of for you at a lodging that is a scaled copy of the Bran Castle. On day 2 you will explore Sighisoara's Citadel followed by lunch at a restaurant located in the home where Vlad Tepes was born and raised.

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Transfers

 
Phone: +4 0722139979